Editorial | The role of members of parliament

What really is the role of a member of parliament (MP)? It’s a question that demands serious analysis in the face of the recent call by Opposition MP Dr Morais Guy for a review.

It’s a timely call, coming so quickly on the heels of recent announcements that MPs were each given $21 million to undertake traditional Christmas work in their constituencies. Work to be undertaken includes bushing, road repairs, garbage collection and drain-cleaning.

In his contribution to the State of the Constituency Debate in Parliament on Wednesday, the Central St Mary MP observed that an MP’s role, foremost as legislator, has gradually expanded to include a huge social work aspect, as they are called upon to sort out a catalogue of constituents’ problems.

Legislative responsibility is supposed to be at the top of MPs’ agendas and they are expected to shape, debate, scrutinise, and vote on bills in the House of Representatives. They also have an oversight responsibility to reinforce Parliament’s position as the institution at the apex of accountability. Then there is also the duty to represent their constituents’ views and aspirations. Most important for some MPs, however, is their party role, which ostensibly means doing all they can to remain in power. Unfortunately, patronage is the tool that most politicians use to build and ultimately sustain power.

It really should not take the intervention of a member of Parliament to have garbage removed, or for gully-cleaning to take place, or for the National Water Commission to restore roads dug up by their staff/contractors to lay pipes. However, the reality is that, as the municipal authorities fail to deliver vital community services, blight and decay have set in, and the office of the MP is now the first stop for citizens in search of action.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness suggested in his contribution to the debate that this expanded role being undertaken by MPs exposes them to accusations of corruption, nepotism, and cronyism.

NO SANCTION

That might well be so, but even when such accusations rise to the level of evidence provided by the Integrity Commission: that an MP “directly or ostensibly authorised” the award of a contract to a family member, there is still no sanction. And if the same MP were even to be cited more than once, there is still no sanction. And even if the Opposition vociferously demands action, there will still be no sanctions.

As a seasoned politician, Mr Holness fully understands the nature of patronage politics, as it plays on both sides of the political divide and is deeply entrenched and widely accepted as a method of distributing benefits.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding admitted that this Christmas work bonanza to MPs helps to reinforce the patronage in local politics, where resources are never enough and so some members of a community will be favoured and others will be left out in the cold.

Acceptance of this patronage politics could seriously harm our democracy. With every passing election in Jamaica, there is mounting evidence of candidates relying on the distribution of material benefits to get votes. Allegations of vote-buying have increased over the years, and there are suggestions that solicitation is being done brazenly.

What all of this suggests is that our political leaders need to recognise that there are underlying factors motivating persons to sell their votes; poverty would be a reason, as well as feelings of betrayal by political representatives, or plain apathy.

There are certainly individual immediate benefits to be had from patronage, but its effects on democracy can be far-reaching, not the least of which is dumping underserving leaders on the population.